I host a couple sites on my node. But im new to the vps scene so i want a server that i can learn things on without having to worry about messing up my live production server

do i have to get another linode? or is there a way to do it on the same node?

thanks

It's probably best to get another linode. While you could theoretically run UML or chroot or something, doing so would still affect the production server to some extent, and require a good bit of expertise to pull off. Since you're new to this, the easiest/safest approach is to have a scratch node you can wreck without any consequences :)

i was afraid of that

thanks

You could have a local setup. For example, if you have Debian 5.0 installed on your node, install Debian 5.0 on a local machine or a local virtual machine and use that for a dev environment.

You can create a new disk image in your linode dashboard and install the distribution of your choice on it (providing you have enough free space). Then you can experiment things without breaking your main production setup. Of course you cannot have both installations running at the same time. It might not be what you want!

I am in the same situation. Though, I did not launch my sites yet. I want to make sure I understand and master the basics (at least).

As waldo said, you are encouraged to work on a local machine before putting your material on your vps.